Velasquez, Dos Santos both favored at UFC 160
Published on Tuesday, 2/26/13, at 8:12 p.m. Eastern
By Brian Edwards
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is in the process of creating a monster of a must-see card for UFC 160 in Las Vegas at The MGM Grand Garden Arena on Memorial Day weekend.
The main event will feature heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva. As of Tuesday night, 5Dimes and SGB Global had Velasquez installed as an enormous minus-600 favorite (risk $600 to win $100), while Silva was plus-400 on the comeback.
Velasquez (12-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) took back the heavyweight strap from Junior dos Santos by dealing out a major-league assbeating at UFC 155 on Dec. 29 in Vegas. Dos Santos had won the belt from Velasquez with a 64-second knockout at UFC on Fox 1.
In the rematch, Velasquez dominated JDS for 25 minutes en route to a unanimous-decision victory (50-45, 50-44 and 50-43.
When Velasquez and Silva met at UFC 146 (364 days before their next encounter) last May, ‘Bigfoot’ was left a bloody mess. Velasquez finished the KO win at the 3:36 mark of the opening round with a violent flurry of ground-and-pound punishment.
Since then, however, Silva has scored a pair of KO wins over previously undefeated Travis Browne and heavily favored Alistair Overeem.
In the co-main event, Dos Santos and Overeem will both be in bounce-back mode when they collide in a battle of top-five contenders. 5Dimes has Dos Santos as a minus-260 ‘chalk’ vs. Overeem, who is a plus-180 underdog (risk $100 to win $180).
In the light heavyweight division, Glover Teixeira will put his 3-0 UFC record on the line against Ryan Bader, who will probably be a rich underdog.
I’m not sure if Pat Barry vs. Shawn Jordan will make the pay-per-view portion of the card, but bettors can expect to see fireworks galore in this heavyweight scrap.
In the welterweight division, Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson will take on Amir Sadollah. Also, we have a pair of important matchups in the 155-pound loop: Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone vs. K.J. Noons and Gray ‘The Bully’ Maynard vs. T.J. Grant.
